Finite Element Simulation of Hot Rolling for Large-Scale AISI 430 Ferritic Stainless-Steel Slabs Using Industrial Rolling Schedules—Part 1: Set-Up, Optimization, and Validation of Numerical Model

A growing need to reduce the environmental impact and cost of manufacturing stainless steels has led to the development of ferritic stainless steel as an alternative to austenitic and duplex steels. The development of new stainless steels involves the optimization of their hot rolling processes, with the aim of minimizing the occurrence of defects and improving productivity. In this context, numerical simulation using the finite element method (FEM) is presented as a key tool to reduce the time and cost associated with traditional trial-and-error optimization methods. Previous work oriented towards the simulation of stainless steels has been focused on the study of small samples, on the performance of laboratory-scale tests, and on the use of 2D FEM models. In this study, a three-dimensional FEM model is proposed to simulate the hot rolling process of large-scale AISI 430 ferritic stainless-steel slabs using an industrial rolling schedule employed in the actual manufacturing process of flat products. Model optimization is performed in order to reduce the computational cost of the simulations, based on the simulation of the first pass of the hot rolling process of AISI 430 stainless steel. The results show that model optimization reduces the computational time by 90.2% without compromising the accuracy of the results. Thus, it was found that the results for thickness and rolling load showed a good correlation with the experimental values. In addition, the simulations performed allowed for the analysis of the distribution of temperature and effective plastic strain.